Dear White People,
I kneel because any other form of protest is looked down upon. If people of color march, it's disruptive. Boycott, no one pays any attention. Riot, we're called thugs and worse, scoffed at an condescended to. If we start a hardcore revolution, it won't end like the one America was founded with. We'll just die, or be used as fodder for the prison system. I kneel because this country has a long history of shafting minorities. That's what the whole thing is about. We have to fight to be heard, and when we are, it's all about "pc culture," and "oversensitivity," and "affirmative action," and "minorities taking over." Taking over? Pardon my language, but Bitch, where? It's not about disrespecting the flag, at all. It's about the way the flag and everything it represents hasn't quite trickled down to minorities as much as non-minorities might believe. We kneel because of all the things conservatives laugh at: white privilege, institutional racism/sexism/homo and transphobia. We kneel because of ignorance, and hate, and fear. We want people to ask why we're doing it, and hope they'll actually listen. Please read the flag codes and learn the types of things that are disrespectful to the flag. Think about how often those things are disregarded. I digress. Instead, everyone is assuming, and they don't have all the information. You think America is the same for everyone. It should be. It's not. Anyone who tells you that is either lying to you and/or themselves, or they're selling a story. Maybe both. We are protesting the minority experience, and we keep trying to find new ways to do it, since every type of protest gets scoffed at by pundits and people who don't understand (even though all of the various forms of protest are tried and true throughout our history.) We keep trying because, damn it, if we don't, we are complicit in our own disenfranchisement and eventual implosion as a part of this country. In the end, it's not about income. If you fire them, take it away, you're just proving that they don't have a voice no mater how much money or status they get. They're still slaves to the whim of public opinion. These players are using their platform to try and build something for other minorities and people who come after them, just like any other righteous protestor. They're no different than a celebrity or politician (who don't espouse the Everyman in any way either, honestly). I appreciate soldiers, and respect what they fight for, but they don't fight for a song or a piece of cloth. They fight for an idea of perfect freedom, which we still don't have. That ideal is why we kneel, and if you were to ask instead of making assumptions, maybe you'd learn that. I'm not going to let nationalism blind me to the faults in this country that I experience daily. I have been spat on for being black, called a "nigger," been threatened by police officers (thankfully never at gunpoint), yelled at because of affirmative action, received death threats for supporting Obama, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. America is better than a lot of other countries, but I still wouldn't call it great. It takes more than capitalist success and political power to make a country truly great for all of its people. Honestly, America is a very young nation, and still has a lot of work to do, and if non-oppressed people stick their heads in the sand and ignore oppressed people trying to tell them a truth outside of their perspective, that work will never get done. That goes for class, race, religion, gender identity, age, whatever. Man, seriously...If I could go back to Africa, I would, in a heartbeat. I would Nina Simone my happy ass right across the ocean, if I had the money that would take. But my bloodline was brought here, and damn it, I'm gonna try to leave it better than I found it. And I'm tired of having to explain myself. I'm not a revolutionary. I have been quiet and complicit with a lot of things. I spend most of my time quietly revolting on social media, or writing incendiary poetry I never read out loud, or discussing theories with friends. I don't know how to go about being more overt, because the ways I can think of scare me. Intimidate me. We don't have all the answers. But for a second, can you stop feeling threatened and uncomfortable and just goddamn listen? You think you know what "Black Lives Matter" means when you snarl back "All Lives Matter," or "Blue Lives Matter." You don't. You don't even know about other marginalized groups that have "_________ Lives Matter" groups. And as a pithy postscript...stop trying to make "reverse racism" happen. It's not going to happen. Tiki torches are on aisle five.
